Join Me as I Strive for Balance and Learn to Juggle it All

Kids Corner: Harper Ray

Was last week totally weird for anyone else? I felt so off schedule and out of sorts…like I couldn’t catch my bearings. It was a short work and school week with having Labor Day off but it felt long and exhausting.

Today I am home with the kids while Jason is in search of a big bull elk to add to his collection. I have spent much of the day cleaning, ya know, the usual – laundry, dishes, vacuuming, changing bedding, picking up, etc…it feels never-ending. We have taken a break though to watch Barbie and the Secret Door movie and I am thinking about dinner plans.

Anyway, for this week’s “Kid’s Corner” I’d like to introduce the baby of our family, Harper Rae. She was born a little over 2 years ago on July 7th and she wasted no time in getting here! I have had a variety of labors with my kids and enjoyed every one of them but Harper’s was by far the most exciting and stressful of them all.

The morning of the 7th I woke up next to Kenna’s snuggles with what I thought might be some light contractions. I called mom, who was 3 hours away getting ready for church and told her not to come yet…I didn’t want this to be a false alarm. I also called a friend to put her on stand-by in case she needed to come watch Blake and Mckenna.

I hadn’t gone into labor naturally with my others so I wasn’t quite sure this was IT but I had a hunch so I changed the bed, tidied up, and took a shower. Finally, I decided it was probably time so mom decided to make the drive here Jason showered and got ready to head out. I was having steady, very strong contractions and when I finally started timing them I realized they were only about 3 or 4 minutes apart…we should have left for the hospital sooner.

We waited outside for my friend to arrive to watch the kids and then sped to the hospital, contracting hard the whole way. I had several contractions in the parking lot and on our way up to labor and delivery and I told Jason I wanted an epidural for sure!

We were ushered into a room right away and I was given a beautiful (hah!) gown to change into. As I was changing my water broke (which I also had never experienced naturally) and with the next contraction I could feel the baby coming OUT! I had Jason hit the emergency button for a nurse and within seconds a whole team of nurses stormed into the room, ready for action.

As I stood in a puddle they tod me I had to get on all fours or get to the bed…both seemed impossibly far away but I opted for the bed as I didn’t want to bring a baby into the world and on to wet paper towels. As soon as I got to the bed (sideways) I was pushing and Harper was out! 8 minutes within arriving at the hospital.

The nurse exclaimed, when she saw our beautiful baby girl, that we had a miracle baby. Harper’s umbilical cord was tied in a complete knot. My mom says, and I truly believe, God saw our baby was in distress and he took he hand and said “come on little girl, we gotta get you out of here!” and that’s why she came so fast and furious. I can only imagine if we had left for the hospital 10 minutes later.

Harper has been a joy and such a beautiful completion our family. She has always been a sweet, relaxed, easy going girl and as she is getting older we have really enjoyed getting to know her curious, sociable, and at times sassy personality. She loves everyone and we love her!